Aleppo province: Twenty five people were killed in the Al-Aadamiyah neighborhood of Aleppo. Syrian regime forces shelled al-Sfeira causing casualties including a woman and a child. 4 civilians were killed by the after midnight tonight in shelling on the Karam al-Jabal area. Clashes took place between the opposition and the Syrian military near the Citadel and in Salahaddin. The Syrian military also shelled Hanao, al-Intharat and al-Haydariyya.

The Syrian military shelled the towns of Retyan, Tel Qirah and Tel Jenin. Fighting took place between the FSA and the Syrian military in the Nayrab area near the international airport at Aleppo at dawn.

Damascus province: Syrian regime forces destroyed many houses in the Tadoamon neighborhood. Due to shelling on Hajar al-Aswad, one young man died from his injuries.

The Syrian military shelled the towns of al-Nashabiya, Hosh Arab and al-I’sali. A corpse which had been tortured was found in Babeela. body. The Syrian military shelled the town of Qatana.

Dara`a province: Clashes occurred in the city of Nowa. The Syrian military shelled the town of Busra al-Sham and carried out raids and arrests, and burnt homes in the towns of Inkhil and al-Sanamayn.

Hama province: The Syrian military killed 20 people in Halfiyya near Hama. 2 children were killed in shelling in Hama. The Syrian military shelled the town of Qastoun in Hama today. The Syrian military shelled the town of Murk and Jabal Shahshabo and carried out many raids and arrests in the town of Teebat al-Imam.

Idlib province: The Syrian opposition killed 18 Syrian regime soldiers in a car bomb and also in a ground attack in Saraqeb. The Syrian military heavily shelled the cities of Kafar Takhareem and Ma’arat al-Nu`man and the town Salqin. The Syrian military resumed the shelling of Saraqeb, and also shelled the village of Jisr al-Shughour and Kafartkharim.

Latakia province: The Syrian military shelled the town of Qastal Ma`af, and Syrian regime soldiers were killed there today.

Inflation has hit Syria. The prices of basic commodities has risen according to state media. Price rises have hit energy and the costs of transporting goods as well.

Angelina Jolie who is a U.N good-will ambassador to refugees, met with Syrian refugees in Lebanon and noted that Lebanese were opening their homes to Syrians, since no camps have been set up for them and commented on Lebanese generosity and kindness.

1918 October. Troops led by Amir Faisal, the son of Sharif Hussein of Mecca capture Damascus ending Ottoman rule.

1920 March. Faisal is proclaimed the King of Syria.

1920 July. The San Remo conference creates the mandate system placing Syria under the mandate of France. French forces occupy Damascus.

1925-1926. Nationalist uprising known as the Syrian revolution escalates. French forces bombard Damascus, Suwaida and other locations. The rebels led by Sultan al-Atrash go into exile. (Faisal becomes the ruler of Iraq)

1928. A constituent assembly drafts Syria’s constitution.

1936. A treaty between France and Syria is negotiated in which France grants independence but retains military presence and economic management. It is never fully enacted.

1940. After France falls to the Germans, the Vichy government controls Syria.

1941. The Free French and UK forces invade Syria and Lebanon, oust the Vichy government and occupy Syria (and Lebanon).

1973. Hafez al-Assad does away with the Constiutitional requirement that Syria’s president be a Muslim. Riots result which were suppressed by the army.

1973. In the October war with Israel, Syria fails to recapture the Golan Heights.

1976. June. Syria intervenes in the Lebanese civil war.

1979 – 1980. A network of Muslim organizations begin an uprising against the government, attack the military and are attacked by the army.

1980. Syria backs Iran in the Iran-Iraq war.

1982. Islamist uprising in the city of Hama is put down brutally, as many as 30,000 civilians are killed.

1982. Israel invades Lebanon and forces the withdrawal of Syrian forces from some areas.

1987. Syria redeploys troops to Lebanon.

1989 December. Committees for the Defense of Democracy, Freedom and Human Rights (CDDFHR) formed in Syria, an underground human rights organization with a newsletter, Sawt al-Dimukratiyya.

1991. Syria participates in the Madrid peace conference, but is shocked by the secret Oslo peace agreements.

1994. Basil al-Assad, the president’s son dies in a car accident.

1998. Rifaat al-Assad, the vice president and president’s brother is relieved of his position.

2000. Hafez al-Assad dies and is succeeded by his son Bashar al-Assad despite the fact that Syria is a republic.

2000-1 In the Damascus Spring, intellectuals, artists and writers began meeting and discussing politics in groups like the Kawakibi Forum, the Atassi Forum and the National Dialogue Forum which called for an end to emergency laws and restoration of political freedoms.

2002 Bashar al-Assad and his team, especially Hasan Khalil, the head of military intelligence began a crackdown on the dialogue groups, closing them and arresting their members, incarcerating, torturing and killing them.

2002 The United States alleges that Syria is developing chemical and possibly nuclear weapons.

2003 The CDDFHR held its first public meeting in Cairo. It later opened 9 offices outside of Syria, in the Middle East and Europe.

2003 Israel carries out a air strike on a Palestinian militant camp near Damascus.

2004 March. Clashes take place between Kurds, Arabs and regime forces in the northeast of Syria.

2004 September. The U.N. Security Council calls for all foreign forces to leave Lebanon, a resolution directed at Syria.